Public API Documentation > Resources > Genes

Genes API

Think about an art object, say a painting by Andy Warhol. You might say it is a painting, that it is a work of Pop Art, that it is a silkscreen, that it features an image of Marilyn Monroe, that it is very high contrast, or even that it emphasizes the flatness of the image. These characteristics or terms (e.g. "Pop Art", "Flatness", "Bright Colors") are what we call genes.

Retrieving Genes

Retrieve genes by following the genes link from root, or the "genes" links within an artwork or artist.

curl -v "https://api.artsy.net/api/genes/{id}" -H "X-XAPP-Token: XAPP_TOKEN"

This endpoint accepts the following parameters.

Name Value
artist_id Retrieve genes for a given artist.
artwork_id Retrieve genes for a given artwork.

Gene JSON Format

error: the server responded with status 404

Links

Key Target
self The gene resource.
thumbnail Default image thumbnail.
image Curied image location.
permalink An external location on the artsy.net website.
artists All artists that have this gene.
artworks Public domain artworks that have this gene.
published_artworks All published artworks that have this gene.

Example

{
  "id": "4e5e41670d2c670001030350",
  "created_at": "2011-08-31T14:12:55+00:00",
  "updated_at": "2024-10-30T08:52:20+00:00",
  "name": "Pop Art",
  "display_name": null,
  "description": "_“The Pop artists did images that anybody walking down Broadway could recognize in a split second—comics, picnic tables, men’s trousers, celebrities, shower curtains, refrigerators, coke bottles—all the great modern things that the Abstract Expressionists tried so hard not to notice at all.” –[Andy Warhol](/artist/andy-warhol)_\n\nPop Art was the dominant movement in early 1960s American art. Short for “popular art,” it featured common household objects and consumer products like Coca-Cola and Campbell’s Soup cans, as well as forms of media—such as comics, newspapers, and magazines—recognizable to the masses. Artists often created Pop works using mechanical or commercial techniques, such as [silk-screening](/gene/silkscreen-1). As Warhol suggested, the choice of mundane subject matter and machine-like techniques was a blunt rejection of the heroic subjects and methods of [Abstract Expressionism](/gene/abstract-expressionism), the leading American movement of the 1950s. Not often discussed is the fact that Pop Art originated in England and paralleled similar movements in France and Germany. Pop Art was incredibly diverse, especially in its international variants, which included [Nouveau Réalisme](/gene/nouveau-realisme) in France, Capitalist Realism in Germany, and Anti-Art in Japan. ",
  "image_versions": [
    "big_and_tall",
    "square500",
    "tall",
    "thumb"
  ],
  "_links": {
    "thumbnail": {
      "href": "https://d32dm0rphc51dk.cloudfront.net/46PghnvIBjrN25-_kPPwQA/big_and_tall.jpg"
    },
    "image": {
      "href": "https://d32dm0rphc51dk.cloudfront.net/46PghnvIBjrN25-_kPPwQA/{image_version}.jpg",
      "templated": true
    },
    "self": {
      "href": "https://api.artsy.net/api/genes/4e5e41670d2c670001030350"
    },
    "permalink": {
      "href": "https://www.artsy.net/gene/pop-art"
    },
    "artworks": {
      "href": "https://api.artsy.net/api/artworks?gene_id=4e5e41670d2c670001030350"
    },
    "published_artworks": {
      "href": "https://api.artsy.net/api/artworks?artist_id=4e5e41670d2c670001030350&published=true"
    },
    "artists": {
      "href": "https://api.artsy.net/api/artists?gene_id=4e5e41670d2c670001030350"
    }
  }
}